Our State is happy to present the Our State Book Club with Wiley Cash! Each month, New York Times bestselling author Wiley Cash handpicks contemporary books by fellow North Carolinian authors and those writing books set in the state, encouraging readers to join in the fun. Wiley will review each book in both the print and digital versions of the magazine and produce two podcast episodes highlighting the selected book and author.
March’s Book Selection
One morning in 2011, Jason Mott walked into his kitchen and found his mother sitting at the table. Mott was surprised to see her, even though they were in his childhood home in rural Columbus County. He sat down across from her, and she began asking him about his life.
Mott told his mother that about a decade before, he’d left a manufacturing job to attend community college before earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. After graduation, he wrote a novel per year. He’d begin a new one every spring, work on it through the summer and fall, and edit it in the winter before submitting it to prospective agents. So far, he hadn’t had any luck getting a book published.
But now, after this visit from his mother, Mott had a new idea: What would happen if the dead suddenly began returning to their families as if they’d never left? After all, that’s what his mother had done. By the time the two of them sat down together, she had been dead for a decade. Their meeting took place one night in a dream.
Book Club selections are available for purchase at McIntyre’s Books at a 20% discount. Visit mcintyresbooks.com for details.
Our State Book Club with Wiley Cash Podcast
Join The New York Times best-selling author and North Carolina native Wiley Cash as he highlights great writers across the state and their work each month. Listen in on conversations between Cash and his author friends as they discuss how North Carolina inspires them on the Our State Book Club podcast.
Click here to start listening.
Our State Book Club Tote Bags
Rep the Our State Book Club with the new exclusive tote bag! Easily carry the latest book club pick or current Our State issue in this roomy and comfortable 100% cotton tote.
Book Reviews
Have you already finished this month’s book and need other recommendations? Check out these titles!
Through the Snow Globe
When a woman encounters a magical snow globe in her small North Carolina town, she’s given the opportunity to face her past and learn to appreciate her present.
Appalachia on the Table
What is Appalachian cuisine? After finding her grandmother’s cookbook, an author combs through the region’s culinary history to find the answer.
Now You Know It All
They aren’t heroes or villains, saints or sinners. The women of each short story in this new collection are complex, with secrets and desires much larger than the North Carolina towns in which they live.
